North Boone School District could get funding increase from wind farm

Wednesday

Jun 4, 2014 at 11:15 AMJun 4, 2014 at 1:10 PM

By Ben StanleyRockford Register Star

BOONE COUNTY — Mainstream Renewable Power’s proposal to build a 12,000-acre wind farm in Boone County could provide a significant funding boost to the county budget and the North Boone School District.

Mainstream is currently surveying areas of Manchester and LeRoy townships where the company hopes to build as many as 100 turbines.

Don Ward, president of the North Boone Board of Education, said “expenses are rising faster than revenue is coming in” for the school district, leading to nearly $4 million in budget cuts over the past five years.

Vince Green, a development project manager for Mainstream, projected the county would gain more than $45 million over 20 years from the wind farm — an average gain of $2.26 million per year.

That projection does not include benefits the county could see from the creation of temporary construction jobs and permanent technical and maintenance jobs, Green said.

The school district’s budget could increase by more than $375,000 per year on average.

Steven Baule, North Boone School District superintendent, wrote in a letter addressed to Boone County Board members Ken Freeman, Pat Mattison and Cathy Ward on Nov. 30, 2012, that the North Boone School District “would realize approximately $7.5 million in additional operating funds and at least $6 million in taxpayer relief in bond payments through 2039” from the proposed wind farm.

But according to Ward and Green, $7.5 million in additional operating funds is a low projection based on out-of-date information. Rates have increased since it was calculated, Ward said, and the school district’s gains could be higher.

Both Baule and Ward say they are maintaining a neutral stance on the wind farm proposal.

There are other concerns that people have raised in opposition to the project, Baule said. Wind farms can be noisy, kill large numbers of birds and bats, and cast long shadows.

“We recognize there are issues with wind farms,” Green said.

Mainstream’s surveys will be completed this fall, and the results will become part of the public record once they are turned over to the County Board for review, Green said.

He said the company’s plans for the wind farm have not been finalized. Once the field surveys are completed, Mainstream will use its data on the potential impact of the wind farm project to make any needed changes to the plan and then submit a special application to the county’s Zoning Board of Appeals. Green hopes to submit the application by spring 2015.

Once the application is submitted, the ZBA can choose to either recommend it to the County Board for approval, recommend for approval with conditions, or recommend for denial, a process which can take up to six months, Green said.

The County Board will then vote on whether to approve the application. Its decision is not bound to the ZBA’s recommendation.